1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical communication system which transmits physical information of a living body to a medical worker distant from the living body.
1. Related Art Statement
It has been proposed a medical communication system which transmits physical information (e.g., electro-cardiogram, body temperature, blood pressure, pulse rate, etc.) of a living body such as a patient, to a medical worker such as a doctor distant from the patient, via a telephone line or by radio, so that the doctor grasps the current condition of the patient and determines appropriate medical treatments for the patient. The communication system is versatile particularly in the field of emergency medical services where immediate medical treatments are necessary and in the field of at-home medical services where patients are monitored at their homes.
If the doctor can directly give instructions to the patient and/or an attendant person for the patient, the patient and/or attendant person will be able to take provisional medical treatments for the patient. However, the above-identified communication system cannot transmit an instruction signal (e.g., sound signal representing the instructive voice of the doctor) in addition to a physical information signal representing the physical information of the patient. For transmitting the instructions of the doctor to the patient and/or attendant person concurrently with the transmission of physical information of the patient to the doctor, another communication system is necessary which transmits the instructions of the doctor to the patient and/or attendant person via a communication channel different from that used for the transmission of the physical information of the patient to the doctor.